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What Comes Next

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Alex: Welcome back. This is the closing conversation for the workshop, but it is not an ending. It is the moment where the live structure fades, and your own developer rhythm starts to matter.

Jamie: I like that, because after a workshop there can be this quiet drop-off. You had issues assigned, people nearby, and a schedule. Then suddenly it is just you and GitHub.

Alex: Exactly. So we are going to make the after-workshop path feel practical: what you built, what skills you can now claim, how to show the work, and how to keep learning without waiting for another event.

Jamie: And maybe how to avoid the classic trap of thinking, I finished the workshop, but I am not a real developer yet.

What Comes Next: Your Developer Journey

Related appendices: Appendix X: Resources | Appendix Z: GitHub Skills | Appendix Y: Workshop Materials Authoritative sources: GitHub Skills | GitHub Docs: Getting started

Day 2, Closing Material

Congratulations -- you have completed the Git Going with GitHub workshop. This chapter is your graduation guide: what you accomplished, where to go next, how to build your portfolio, and how to stay connected with the community.

If you are following the companion audio path, this lesson is intentionally the final stop. Reference episodes may help you look up details, but this chapter brings you back to the bigger question: what will you do next with the skills you now have?

Table of Contents

  1. What You Built in Two Days
  2. Your New Skills Inventory
  3. Building Your Developer Portfolio
  4. Continued Learning Roadmap
  5. GitHub Skills Courses to Try Next
  6. Staying Connected
  7. Contributing Back to This Workshop
  8. Final Words

1. What You Built in Two Days

Take a moment to appreciate what you accomplished. This is not a list of what you were taught -- it is a list of what you did.

Day 1: You Can Navigate This

  • Created and configured a GitHub account with accessibility settings
  • Navigated repositories, files, and folders using your screen reader, keyboard, or preferred tools
  • Filed issues with descriptive titles, labels, and context
  • Created branches, edited files, and opened pull requests
  • Responded to bot feedback and passed automated checks
  • Resolved a merge conflict
  • Reviewed someone else's code and gave constructive feedback
  • Explored labels, milestones, and project boards
  • Managed notifications

Day 2: You Can Build This

  • Installed and configured VS Code with accessibility settings
  • Cloned a repository and worked with Git locally
  • Understood the mental model: working directory, staging area, repository
  • Created branches, staged changes, committed, and pushed from the command line
  • Explored GitHub Copilot: code suggestions, chat, and code review
  • Created an issue template
  • Forked a repository and contributed using the open source workflow
  • Explored the accessibility agents ecosystem
  • Completed a capstone contribution path by designing or improving an agentic asset for Accessibility Agents, GLOW, or another repository

The evidence

Your GitHub profile now contains real activity: issues filed, pull requests merged, code reviewed, and capstone evidence prepared for a real repository. This is not a certificate. It is a commit history.

2. Your New Skills Inventory

The following table maps what you learned to where it applies beyond this workshop. Every skill transfers directly to real-world development.

Skill Where you learned it Where it applies
Repository navigation Chapters 2-3 Every GitHub project, every job that uses GitHub
Issue tracking Chapter 5 Bug reports, feature requests, project management
Pull request workflow Chapters 6, 15 Code contribution at any company or open source project
Merge conflict resolution Chapter 7 Any team project with multiple contributors
Git fundamentals Chapters 13-14 Every software project that uses version control
VS Code proficiency Chapters 11-12 Daily development work in any language
Code review Chapter 15 Peer review, quality assurance, team collaboration
Fork workflow Chapter 18 Open source contribution, cross-team collaboration
AI-assisted development Chapters 16, 19-20 GitHub Copilot, AI agents, and future AI tools
Accessibility awareness Entire workshop Building inclusive software, WCAG compliance

Skills you may not have noticed

  • Reading documentation: You navigated technical guides, followed step-by-step instructions, and troubleshot problems using written references. This is the most important developer skill.
  • Asking for help effectively: You posted on issues with context, error messages, and what you tried. This is how experienced developers communicate.
  • Learning tools by doing: You did not read a manual cover to cover. You tried things, hit problems, and figured them out. This is how real tool learning works.

3. Building Your Developer Portfolio

See also: Appendix X: Resources has links to every tool and resource mentioned in this course.

Your GitHub profile is your portfolio. Here is how to make what you built visible.

Pin your best repositories

  1. Go to github.com/settings/profile.
  2. Scroll to "Pinned repositories."
  3. Pin the repositories that show your best work. Consider:
    • Your fork of the accessibility-agents repository (shows open source contribution)
    • Any personal projects you create after the workshop

Write a profile README

Your profile README is the first thing people see when they visit your GitHub profile. Create a repository with the same name as your username (e.g., your-username/your-username) and add a README.md:

# Hi, I am [Your Name]

I am a developer focused on [your interests].

## Recent work

- Prepared a capstone contribution for Accessibility Agents, GLOW, or another repository
- Completed the Git Going with GitHub workshop

## What I am learning

- [List technologies or topics you are exploring]

Keep your contribution graph active

The green squares on your GitHub profile show when you made contributions. Even small actions count: filing issues, opening PRs, making commits, and reviewing code. Consistency matters more than volume.

Learning Cards: Building Your Developer Portfolio

Screen reader users:

  • Navigate to your profile settings at github.com/settings/profile -- the "Pinned repositories" section is a group of checkboxes; Tab through and press Space to pin or unpin
  • Your profile README repository must match your username exactly (case-sensitive) -- screen readers will read the rendered README as regular page content when visitors navigate your profile
  • The contribution graph is announced as a table or grid; arrow keys move between day cells, each announcing the date and contribution count

Low-vision users:

  • Pinned repositories appear as cards below your avatar -- at high zoom the 2x3 grid may reflow to a single column, which is easier to scan
  • The profile README renders with your current GitHub theme -- test yours in both light and dark modes to confirm text and images remain readable
  • Contribution graph squares use green intensity to show activity levels; enable high-contrast mode if the shading differences are hard to distinguish

Sighted users:

  • Pinned repos appear in a 2x3 grid directly below your bio -- visitors see them immediately, so choose repos that showcase your best work
  • Your profile README renders above the pinned repos section -- keep it concise and scannable with headings and bullet points
  • The contribution graph shows a full year of activity; consistent small green squares look better to visitors than occasional intense bursts

4. Continued Learning Roadmap

See also: Appendix Z: GitHub Skills has the complete catalog of recommended GitHub Skills courses.

The workshop taught you the fundamentals. Here is where to go deeper in each area.

Git and version control

  • Pro Git book -- Free, comprehensive, and the official Git resource. Start with chapters 2 and 3.
  • Appendix E: Advanced Git -- Rebasing, cherry-picking, stashing, and other techniques you will need eventually.

GitHub platform

  • GitHub Docs -- The official documentation covers everything. Bookmark it.
  • GitHub Skills -- Free, interactive courses that teach by doing (see Section 5 below).
  • GitHub Blog -- Stay current with new features and best practices.

VS Code

Accessibility

AI-assisted development

Programming languages

Choose based on your interests:

Interest Language to learn Where to start
Web development HTML, CSS, JavaScript MDN Web Docs
Automation and scripting Python Python.org tutorial
Desktop applications Python (with wxPython or Tkinter) wxPython documentation
Mobile development Swift (iOS) or Kotlin (Android) Platform-specific developer docs

5. GitHub Skills Courses to Try Next

GitHub Skills offers free, interactive courses that run inside GitHub repositories. Each course creates a repository in your account with step-by-step instructions and automated feedback -- the same model we used in this workshop.

Course What you will learn How it connects to this workshop
Introduction to GitHub Repository basics, branches, commits, PRs Review and reinforce Day 1 skills
Communicate using Markdown Markdown syntax, formatting, links, images Write better issues, PRs, and documentation
Review pull requests Review workflow, inline comments, suggestions Deepen the code review skills from Chapter 15
Resolve merge conflicts Conflict detection, resolution strategies Practice what you learned in Chapter 7
Getting Started with GitHub Copilot Copilot suggestions, chat, and prompting Extend Chapter 16 with hands-on Copilot practice
Code with Copilot Multi-file editing, code review with Copilot Build on the AI-assisted workflow from Day 2

How to start a course

  1. Go to skills.github.com.
  2. Find a course and click its title.
  3. Click Start course (this creates a repository in your account).
  4. Follow the instructions in the repository's README.

Each course takes 15 to 60 minutes.

6. Staying Connected

Community Access

Open source contribution

The capstone was your first contribution. Here is how to make more:

  1. Start with projects you use. If you use a tool or library and find a bug or missing documentation, that is your first issue.
  2. Look for "good first issue" labels. Many projects label issues that are suitable for new contributors.
  3. Documentation counts. Fixing typos, improving instructions, and adding examples are valuable contributions. Do not underestimate them.
  4. The fork workflow scales. The same fork, branch, commit, push, PR workflow from Chapter 18 works for every GitHub project.

Accessibility community

7. Contributing Back to This Workshop

This workshop is open source. If you found something confusing, incorrect, or missing, you can fix it.

Types of contributions we value

Contribution How to do it
Fix a typo or broken link Open a PR directly
Clarify confusing instructions File an issue describing what confused you, then open a PR
Add a screen reader tip File an issue with the tip and the chapter it belongs in
Report an accessibility barrier File an issue with the heading "Accessibility barrier"
Suggest a new topic File an issue with the heading "Content suggestion"

The contribution workflow

  1. Fork the git-going-with-github repository.
  2. Clone your fork, create a branch, make your edit.
  3. Open a PR with a clear title and description.
  4. Mention the chapter number and section in your PR.

You have already practiced every step of this workflow. This is the real thing.

Learning Cards: Contributing Back to This Workshop

Screen reader users:

  • The contribution workflow here is identical to Chapter 18 (Fork and Contribute) -- fork, clone, branch, edit, push, PR; use the same keyboard and screen reader patterns you already practiced
  • When filing an issue, include the chapter number and section heading in the title so maintainers can locate the problem with heading navigation
  • After opening a PR, listen for the automated check results in the PR timeline -- each check is announced as a link with its pass/fail status

Low-vision users:

  • The contribution types table above maps each kind of contribution to its workflow -- zoom in on the "How to do it" column for the quickest path
  • When editing documentation in your fork, use VS Code's Markdown Preview (Ctrl+Shift+V) at your preferred zoom level to verify formatting before pushing
  • PR descriptions render as Markdown on GitHub -- use headings and lists so reviewers can scan your changes at any zoom level

Sighted users:

  • The simplest contribution is fixing a typo -- fork the repo, edit the file directly on GitHub.com, and open a PR in under two minutes
  • Reference the chapter number and section in your PR title (e.g., "Fix broken link in Ch07 Section 3") so maintainers can review quickly
  • Check the repository's open issues for items labeled "good first issue" or "help wanted" to find contributions the maintainers are actively seeking

If You Get Stuck After the Workshop

Before you open a new browser tab and search the whole internet, use the workshop support path you already practiced. Start with the Course Guide when you need the map, the Challenge Hub when you need the challenge-by-challenge checklist, and Get Going with GitHub when you need the onboarding path again. These pages are not separate podcast episodes because they are navigation aids, but this closing chapter is the right place to name them.

If you need human help, use the Community Access support hub. Include what you tried, what happened, what you expected, your operating system, and the screen reader or access tools you are using. That is the same evidence habit you practiced in issues and pull requests.

Problem What to do
Forgot how to do something from the workshop Search the course guide by topic. Every major skill links to the chapter and appendix that covers it.
Git error you have not seen before Copy the exact error text and search for it. Pro Git and Stack Overflow's git tag cover nearly every scenario.
VS Code extension not working Check the extension's page in the marketplace for known issues. Try disabling and re-enabling it.
Want to contribute but do not know where to start Search for good first issue labels on projects that interest you. See Section 4: Continued Learning Roadmap.
Need help from the community Post in Support Hub Discussions or file a support issue.

8. Final Words

Two days ago, GitHub was new. Git was a mystery. The terminal was unfamiliar. Now you have filed issues, opened pull requests, resolved conflicts, reviewed code, and contributed to a real open source project.

The tools are yours now. The workflow is yours. The confidence is yours.

Every expert started exactly where you are standing. The difference between a beginner and an experienced developer is not talent -- it is reps. You just finished your first set.

Keep committing.

Back: Chapter 20: Build Your Agent
Related appendices: Appendix X: Resources | Appendix Z: GitHub Skills

Authoritative Sources

Use these official references when you need the current source of truth for facts in this chapter.

Section-Level Source Map

Use this map to verify facts for each major section in this file.